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The Plus/Minus: Virginia Pummels North Carolina A&T 80-51

Virginia’s balanced scoring attack - every active scholarship player scored - overwhelmed NC A&T as the Hoos won 80-51

Val Prochaska

The Plus/Minus: Virginia Pummels North Carolina A&T 80-51
The Plus/Minus: Virginia Pummels North Carolina A&T 80-51 /
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Virginia used a near-perfect first half to pummel North Carolina A&T 80-51 on Tuesday night at John Paul Jones Arena, improving to 3-0 on the season. Val has the Plus/Minus to break down what we saw from the Cavaliers in their resounding victory. 

Plus

A win is a win is a win. This game was always going to be a glorified scrimmage as NC A&T is probably the worst team Virginia will face. Pitt just hung 100 points on Aggies this past weekend. A Pitt team that was picked to finish 9th in the ACC. Hard to take too much from a game like this.

Plus

The team is still shooting the 3-ball very well. Although by “team” I really mean Isaac McKneely and Jake Groves, both of whom went 2/2 from deep tonight. The rest of the team was 2/8. Buoyed by McKneely and Groves, the team shot 46% for the game and is now sitting at 43% through three games.

Plus

Leon Bond III. Bond was a ridiculous 8/10 from the field with an array of backdoor cuts, slams off offensive rebounds and even a Dirk-Nowitzki fadeaway jumper. He’s played 40 minutes this season and scored 30 points. Bond has made the case that he should be starting at the 3.

Negative

Andrew Rohde, who has started at the 3 for all three games, is really struggling on offense. Rohde was 0/3 from deep, 3/7 overall and he’s not been a slasher at all. By way of comparison to Bond, Rohde’s played 85 minutes and put up just 19 points. No one is giving up on Rohde; his defense has been sound and he had five assists tonight.

Positive

It’s a sign of how poorly the Cavaliers have shot from the free throw line that a 12/16 night is considered a plus. Ryan Dunn led the way going 5/6. Baby steps, baby steps.

Positive

Reece Beekman had maybe the most dominant game I’ve seen from a guy who shot 2/9 from the field, didn’t go to the line, and played just 21 minutes. He’s in complete control and he’s pulling all the strings. Jordan Minor, who has not been getting minutes, had just entered the game and Dunn hit him with a beautiful pass in the low block. Minor got overly excited and traveled. Very next play down the court, Beekman set up off Minor’s screen, allowed him to roll to the bucket, and hit him in stride for the basket. A couple minutes later, Beekman found Blake Buchanan for an alley-oop. Again, right after BB had missed a post up he really should have converted. And lastly, Rohde had passed up a wide open three in transition. The ball came right back to him and this time he took the shot. And missed. Five plays later, Beekman played off a Rohde screen that left him matched up against 5’ 10” Camian Shell. Rohde posted the smaller player nicely.

Beekman also had this alley-oop to Dunn. (One of two on the night.)

Negative

Jordan Minor got just 12 minutes against the Aggies. Buchanan only played 15 minutes as everyone was getting involved. But if Minor can’t beat up on a seriously undersized NC A&T team, he’s clearly not going to be a part of Bennett’s plans down the road.

Positive (I think)

Isaac McKneely twisted his ankle late in the first half. He didn’t re-enter the game, and he was a minute late coming out of the locker room to start the second half. But he was walking easily, smiling, and he looked comfortable on the bench. Virginia was up 49-19 at the half; it’s not like the Cavaliers needed him. Tony Bennett said after the game that initial X-rays showed that McKneely didn't break anything, but they don't know the severity of the injury yet. 

Neutral

NC A&T is poor competition for Virginia. I find these games boring and if I didn’t have this gig, I probably would have done something else tonight. Virginia went on an early 20-4 run in the middle of the first half to effectively end the game. Really, all that was left was to see if the Hoos would exceed Pitt’s 100 points – they didn’t – or if they could hold the Aggies to less than 52 points, which they did. Barely. 

Next Up: It’s a very short turnaround as the Cavaliers host Texas Southern on Thursday, November 16th. Game time is 7pm and the game will be on the ACC Network. 

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Published
Val Prochaska
VAL PROCHASKA

Val graduated from the University of Virginia in the last millennium, back when writing one's senior thesis by hand was still a thing. He is a lifelong fan of the ACC, having chosen the Tobacco Road conference ahead of the Big East. Again, when that was still a thing. Val has covered Virginia men's basketball for seven years, first with HoosPlace and then with StreakingTheLawn, before joining us here at Virginia Cavaliers on SI in August of 2023, continuing to cover UVA men's basketball and also writing about women's soccer and women's basketball.

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